Murray Is Returning To The World Of Competition With Caution And Confidence

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 31st December 2013

ExxonMobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament in Doha

Murray Is Returning To The World Of Competition With Caution And Confidence

epa04004439 Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball to Qatari Mousa Shanan Zayed during the ExxonMobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament match at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, 31 December 2013. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Today at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Andy Murray is due to play his first singles match on the ATP World Tour since losing his US Open title last September and the world no.4 is more than happy with the way his body, and most pertinently his back, has reacted to a couple of exhibition outings and an exacting doubles workout in Doha alongside Nenad Zimonjic.

Murray, who underwent back surgery in London on September 30, adopted an obvious air of caution during the exhibition Mubadela Tennis World Championship in Abu Dhabi.

“So far the results have been good,” insisted a relaxed Murray at Doha’s Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. “I haven’t lost any strength. I was training two weeks after the surgery. I was on the bike. It was quite a slow process, but everything has gone well. I don’t feel like I’ve lost speed or strength.

“But I’ll have a better idea when I start playing matches against the best players in the world. It’s fine doing all this stuff in the gym and in practice, but until I start doing it in the matches that’s where I’ll get the confidence from.”

Diplomacy prevented him from saying that probably wouldn’t have been today as his first round opponent in Doha was 2,129 ranked Qatari teenage wild card Mousa Shanan Zayed, who earlier in December managed to win just one game in two Futures matches against lowly ranked British players Liam Broady and Scott Clayton. Murray did admit: “I would expect to win the match.”

But he was more forthcoming about his reasoning of why he turned his back on the Brisbane International in Australia, where he would have been focusing on a triple of singles titles, and instead playing the Doha event.

The obvious assumption is the inducement of much more lucrative financial guarantees in wealthy Qatar would have been an influence but Murray insisted: “It was because of the surgery.

“ I wanted to play matches. I have also played well here in the past, but with Abu Dhabi next to it, I didn’t want to play Abu Dhabi and travel over to Brisbane with my back, and I thought this was the best way to go. I was guaranteed to play a couple of matches in Abu Dhabi, and then to come here and obviously play singles and doubles. Hopefully, if I could get a total seven or eight matches under my belt between now and the Australian Open, that would be good.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Abu Dhabi, Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Australian Open, Liam Broady, Mousa Shanan Zayed, Mubadela Tennis World Championship, Nenad Zimonjic, Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Scott Clayton, Tennis, Tennis News, US Open